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A hero around us.

Well, I was moved when I first heard of Blogadda‘s initiative with Gillette. Soldier for women; well there are so many bad apples in the basket and they stand out by their sheer rotten smell- teasing women, throwing taunts, disrespecting them and doing other unmanly things; but there are good ones too. People who stand up for women. Many women have objected against the idea of chivalry and misunderstood the whole movement as is evident with the comments on Blogadda’s blog. Well, it’s not that they need to be helped or saved; rather, it’s actually about whether a man who disrespects a woman or lets it happen under his watch, is a real man? Just like we need good citizens in this country, we need better men; who can take responsibility. We also need better women who can stand up against crimes of all kind but, this is about men- men who can be soldiers. Every woman as she battles the various challenges in society is born a soldier but among men, soldiers are made. Proper education, moral background, an alive conscience- all go into making them. Here are a few examples I can think of-

1. I was in 11th class, annual function was right around the corner. The girls of the class were performing, they thought they’d rehearse their dance in the classroom itself in a free period. A few guys started clapping and whistling as they saw the girls dance. The girls were getting annoyed and soon the situation escalated as one of the guys used some derogatory words for the girls without any provocation. A few guys in the classroom started laughing with him. One of them wasn’t. He stood up against the gang and asked them to keep quiet or leave. He was beaten black and blue by the rowdies. He sat in the corner crying as no one really cared, and the rehearsals continued.

2. There was a discussion forum on Facebook where people were allowed to post anonymous comments about their college life, you know, sort of a confessions page. Someone posted that he liked a particular girl in college; upon reading that, the girl didn’t really reciprocate and not-so-subtly turned down the creepy anonymous proposal. The next anonymous comment that followed was a sexist slur in disrespectful, mean and rude language. The girl was appalled at this audacity. One of the members of the forum posted a link to the cyber laws prevalent in India and the punishments for such a person who abuses someone publicly on the internet. Next anonymous comment was an apology.

3. On a bus journey from Davangere to Bangalore, a woman passenger was constantly getting harassed by the passenger sitting behind her he tried to touch and grope her with the excuse of constantly trying to adjust the curtains. One of the fellow passengers saw this happening and informed the conductor immediately. The passenger was made to alight in the middle of nowhere as the bus zoomed past him. Till date this example scares the hell out of mischief-mongers.